1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electric connector configured so as to fix a signal transmission medium by moving an actuator.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, in various electric apparatuses and others, various electric connectors are widely used as a device for electrically connecting various signal transmission media such as a flexible printed circuit (FPC) and a flexible flat cable (FFC). For example, in an electric connector for use as being mounted on a printed wiring board as described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-71160, a signal transmission medium formed of an FPC, an FFC, or the like is inserted into the inside of an insulating housing (an insulator) from its opening on a front end side, and then an actuator (connecting operation device) held at a “connection release position” for freeing the signal transmission medium at the time of insertion is rotated so as to be, for example, pushed down, toward a connecting action position on a front side or a rear side of the connector with an operating force of an operator.
When the actuator (connecting operation device) is operated to be rotated to a “connection acting position” for interposing the signal transmission medium, a cam member provided in the actuator presses conductive conducts. With this, the conductive contacts are displaced to be in press-contact with the signal transmission medium (such as FPC or FFC), thereby fixing the signal transmission medium. On the other hand, when the actuator at the “connection acting position” is rotated toward the original “connection release position” so as to, for example, rise upward, the conductive contacts are displaced in a direction of being spaced apart by their elasticity from the signal transmission medium (such as FPC or FFC), thereby causing the signal transmission medium to become in a free state.
As such, the actuator for the electric connector is configured to be operated to reciprocate between the “connection release position” and the “connection acting position” as, for example, being operated to rotate about a rotation center extending in a longitudinal direction of the actuator. As the size of the electric connector as a whole has been decreased in recent years, the size and height of the actuator itself has been decreased, and the stiffness of the actuator tends to decrease, thereby posing the following problems, for example. That is, when an actuator with its stiffness decreased due to decrease in size and height receives an operating force leaning to one direction in the longitudinal direction of the actuator, the actuator as a whole is deformed as being twisted, and the original operating force is not transmitted to a part of conductive contacts, thereby possibly causing a state in which the conductive contacts are not press-contacted and connected to the signal transmission medium (such as FPC or FFC) in a good condition.
Also, as downsizing of the actuator together with the entire electric connector is advanced, it becomes difficult to visually recognize to which position the actuator has been rotated, in particular, the state of the actuator rotated to the “connection acting position”, thereby making it disadvantageously difficult to check the connection state of the conductive contacts.